On the Run: Nashville

Greetings from Nashville. Or NashVegas. Or Smashville. I’ve heard it called all three today. Must mean this is a fun, fun town.

But before any of that fun, it was time to continue my 2010 plan to run through all the cities on the Broncos schedule. The Denver Rock and Roll Half Marathon is in two weeks, so even though I’m on the road, this is no time to mess around. Fortunately, Nashville is a fairly running-friendly city.

This isn’t my first time here, or my first time running here. My friend Dave and I went on a run through the Vanderbilt campus when we were here to cover a Florida-Vandy basketball game in 2007. I liked the campus area and near by Centennial Park so much that I decided to return there for my run today.

We’re staying at hotel in downtown Nashville, and I headed west, zigzagging first through crowds of people walking through the bar and restaurant area. There is an unpleasant mile or so between downtown and the Vanderbilt area, but once I got through there, it was great. I ran through Centennial Park, where there was a crowded cultural festival going on. Thousands of people were there watching performances, eating — you know, all the fun stuff you do at festivals.

From the park, I headed south into the Vanderbilt University campus. The Commodores were on the road today, but there was a massive marching band festival or competition going on instead at Vanderbilt Stadium. Because of the thousands of teenagers carrying large instruments, I ran past the stadium pretty quickly. A couple more miles through the campus, then it was back east to downtown. In all, 7 miles, in 1:03, and it felt great.

We’re heading to Baltimore next week. Perhaps a run in the Inner Harbor?

Check around for wooden pinball tables, that’s how backwards they are. I hear the hottest toy of the season is a wooden whistle down there. Sad thing is we have a real chance of leaving there 1-3, losing to them yokels headed by that marmot Jeff Fisher. Unbelievable.

http://horviltiki.com PP Dublinski

Check around for wooden pinball tables, that’s how backwards they are. I hear the hottest toy of the season is a wooden whistle down there. Sad thing is we have a real chance of leaving there 1-3, losing to them yokels headed by that marmot Jeff Fisher. Unbelievable.

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.